What a stud fee actually buys

The stud fee is the most discussed number in any mating and the least standardised. There is no governing scale and no contract that everybody uses — only conventions, unevenly applied, and binding on nobody who did not agree to them in writing. This page is about what the money is for, the shapes an arrangement takes, and the questions that turn a friendly agreement into one that survives a bad season.

What you are actually paying for

A stud fee buys a service, not goods. You are paying for the use of the dog for a mating, for the owner’s time and handling on the day, and — the part that sets the figure more than anything else — for what that dog has been proved to be: his register, his health results, his record as a producer.

You are not buying puppies. You are buying an attempt at them. Whether a litter follows depends on the bitch, the timing, both dogs’ fertility and a measure of luck, and no stud owner can promise the outcome. That is why the terms for a miss matter more than the headline figure, and why they are the first thing to nail down.

Nor does the fee buy anything beyond that one arrangement. Unless it is written down, it does not buy a second season, a right to repeat the mating in future, semen for storage, or any say in the dog.

The structures in common use

A flat fee

The simplest arrangement: an agreed sum for the mating. Two details are worth settling even here. Does the fee cover more than one mating during the same season — many owners include a second, and some do not? And does it cover the bitch staying over, if she needs to?

A puppy, or pick of the litter

Instead of money, or alongside a reduced fee, the stud owner takes a puppy. Common, perfectly reasonable, and a frequent source of falling out with someone you liked — so it gets a section of its own below.

A free return, or repeat mating

The usual way a miss is handled: if the bitch does not conceive, the stud owner offers the service again at no further fee. It is common enough that many people simply assume it, and common is not universal — some owners do not offer it, and they are entitled not to.

“Free return” also needs defining, because the phrase covers several different promises. To the same bitch, or any bitch you own? At her next season, or within a set period? To the same dog — and what if he is sold, retired or dies in between? Does the free return itself carry a free return if she misses again?

When the money changes hands

Practice varies here, genuinely and widely. All of these are in use: payment at the mating; payment when a pregnancy is confirmed by scan; payment when there are live puppies on the ground; and a deposit to hold a booking with the balance later.

The choice is really about who carries the risk of a miss. Paid at the mating, that risk sits with the bitch’s owner — which is what a free return is there to soften. Paid on a confirmed pregnancy or on live puppies, it moves to the stud owner, who has given his time for nothing. Both positions are defensible. Neither is the default.

Pick of the litter, and why it needs writing down

A puppy is not a fixed price. In a litter of nine it may be worth a good deal more than the cash fee would have been; in a litter of two it may be most of the litter. That asymmetry is why the arrangement has to be defined before anyone knows how many puppies there are. Settle every one of these, in writing, at the time of the mating:

• Which pick. First choice of the whole litter, first choice of one sex, or second pick after the breeder’s own?
• Instead of the fee, or as well as it? Both arrangements exist, and people do assume opposite ones.
• Chosen when, and by whom — at what age, and who decides if you disagree?
• Going home when, and registered, microchipped and vaccinated at whose cost?
• What if there is only one puppy, or only one of the sex specified?
• What if the chosen puppy dies, or is found to have a problem before it leaves?
• What if the pick is not taken. Does it convert to a cash fee, and how much?

Who pays for what

These are conventions rather than rules, and every one is worth confirming rather than assuming:

• Travel. The bitch normally travels to the dog, at her owner’s cost. Some stud owners will travel instead; if yours does, agree who pays.
• Progesterone testing. Normally arranged and paid for by the bitch’s owner, because it is her vet and her bitch’s season. Some stud owners require it before they will take a booking, which is a reasonable thing to ask for — it is what prevents a wasted journey.
• Boarding. If the bitch stays for a few days, ask whether that is included or charged, and who is responsible if she needs a vet while she is there.
• Veterinary costs. The bitch’s own care is her owner’s. Costs relating to the stud — a semen evaluation, his own health testing — are normally the stud owner’s. Where one side is asking for a specific test, say who is paying for it.
• Artificial insemination, chilled and frozen semen. Collection, storage, shipping and the veterinary work are real costs on top of the fee, and this is exactly where an unexpected bill turns up. Agree in advance who pays each part.

The stud owner’s part in registering the litter

This is the part of a stud arrangement people understand last and should understand first. Both parents must be registered with the Royal Kennel Club, and the stud dog’s ownership details must be correct at the time of the mating. The stud dog’s owner then has a part in the application: on a paper application every owner of the stud dog signs it, and if you apply online the Royal Kennel Club notifies the person the stud dog lives with. For a litter by artificial insemination, the Royal Kennel Club’s regulations require the stud dog’s registered owner to sign the litter registration form, unless they have confirmed in writing that the semen now belongs to you.

So where a signature is needed, a stud owner who will not give it can leave the application incomplete — and whichever route you use, a stud owner who disputes the mating is an argument you want settled on paper beforehand, not when the puppies are six weeks old.

The fix is boring:

• Agree in writing that the stud owner will do their part in the litter registration — signing a paper application, or the forms for an insemination, where one is needed — and within how many days of being asked.
• Record the mating dates at the time, agreed by both of you.
• Take copies of his registration certificate and health certificates on the day, not when the puppies are six weeks old.
• Check both dogs for registration endorsements before the mating, not after.

That last one is not a detail. A bitch carrying a “progeny not eligible for registration” endorsement cannot have her litter registered no matter what the stud owner signs, and normally only the person who placed the endorsement can lift it — see Royal Kennel Club endorsements explained.

Why there is no price table on this page

Because we do not know what a typical stud fee is, and neither does anybody quoting you a figure they cannot show you the working for.

Fees differ by breed, by what the dog has proved, by whether his health testing covers the breed’s full panel, by how many good litters are already behind him, and by how many alternatives exist within a day’s drive. There is no published dataset of UK stud fees to average. We could average the listings on this site, but that would describe the people who happened to list rather than the market, and printing it as a market figure would be dishonest.

The deeper reason is what a number on a page like this actually does. Publish “typically £800” and it stops being a description and becomes an anchor: quoted back at stud owners as if it were a standard, and used to talk breeders up or down from a figure we invented. That is a bad thing to do to a market, and we are not going to do it.

You will hear rules of thumb — most commonly, setting the fee near the price of one puppy of the breed. That is a rule of thumb rather than a rule, and we are not going to turn it into a number for you.

What to compare instead

The same fee can be excellent value or poor value for reasons that have nothing to do with the figure. Compare these, dog against dog:

• The register. Is he on the Royal Kennel Club Breed Register, and have you seen the certificate? A Royal Kennel Club number on its own does not settle it — “KC registered” is not one thing.
• The health results, against the breed’s own panel, in his registered name. See health testing explained.
• The pairing, not the dog. What would this mating’s coefficient of inbreeding be, and how does it sit against the breed average? COI explained covers why his own figure answers a different question.
• What he has produced — proven or unproven, how many litters, and how those puppies turned out two years on.
• What the fee includes — one mating or two, boarding, and a return if she misses, on what terms.
• How promptly his owner will do their part in the litter registration.

Work through that list and the fee stops being the comparison and becomes the last line of it. A cheap mating to a dog whose certificates do not cover your breed’s panel is not cheap.

What Breed Right shows, and what we take no part in

Where a stud owner has given us a fee, the listing shows it, along with any note they added about it — “plus pick of litter”, and so on — and their own terms in their own words. All of that is the owner’s statement, not a check by us, and a listing with no fee on it means nobody gave us one.

We are a directory. We hold no deposits, take no commission on a mating, and are not a party to your arrangement. We have no view on whether a fee is fair. What we do check is narrow, and stated on every listing: Every stud dog on Breed Right is on the Royal Kennel Club Breed Register. The Royal Kennel Club also runs an Activity Register, which is open to any dog including crossbreeds — those dogs cannot be listed at stud here.

The one page to write before the mating

Dated, signed by both of you, one copy each. It does not need a solicitor and it does not need to be long — there is a free stud contract template you can print and fill in. At the least it should cover:

• Both dogs, by registered name and registration number.
• The fee, and exactly when it is payable.
• What happens if the bitch does not conceive.
• Any pick of the litter, defined in full.
• Who pays for travel, progesterone testing, boarding and any AI costs.
• That the stud owner will do their part in the litter registration, and within how many days.
• That neither dog carries an endorsement which would stop the litter being registered.

This is general information about arrangements that are common in UK dog breeding, not legal advice. A stud arrangement is a contract between two people; if a significant sum or a dispute is involved, take proper advice rather than relying on a web page.